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Friday, December 31, 2010

Goal for 2011: The IMDB Top 100

I don't really like setting new year's resolutions, but I did want to set a goal for 2011, something that would be fun, achievable and inexpensive (my expensive goal for 2011 would be attending San Diego Comic Con, but that would require them to put badges on sale for more than 15 seconds at any point in the near future). So I decided that in 2011, I want to watch every movie in the IMDB Top 100.

I've been working toward the ability to achieve this goal for awhile, and I now have almost every movie in the Top 100 available to me. The only ones I don't have at home are "Black Swan", which is still in theaters, and "Unforgiven", which recently snuck into the Top 100 at No. 100.

Now that illustrates that the Top 100 is an ever-changing list, so for the purposes of this exercise, I will be attempting to view all the movies on the Top 100 as it will be on Jan. 1, 2011. So if some movie moves into the Top 100 during the course of the year (which is almost guaranteed to happen), it'll get skipped.

I'd like to start with "Unforgiven" and work my way to IMDB's current No. 1, "The Shawshank Redemption", but that will all depend on getting my hands on a copy of the movie on New Year's Day -- I think I know someone who has it on DVD, or I could just drop the $10 for my own copy at Best Buy.

Movie on the list I'm most looking forward to seeing for the first time: honestly, it's probably "Black Swan." I've heard it's amazing, and I may break the 100-1 order to go see it in theaters. Among the movies that aren't in theaters, I've never seen "Rear Window" from start to finish, and it's the highest-ranked movie I can say that about.

Movie on the list I'm least looking forward to seeing again: "American Beauty." I saw this when I was in college, and to this day I think it's the most overrated movie I've seen. Runner up: "The Green Mile" -- not because it's not good, but because at 3:08, it's about an hour too long.

Movie I'm glad fell off the list: "Avatar". The last time I put together my IMDB Top 100 playlist, "Avatar" was in the 70s. Now it's outside the Top 100, which is great because without the 3D effects, it's a decidedly average movie.

I'll try and post occasional updates on my progress and thoughts on the Top 100 throughout the year, and hopefully by this time next year I'll be able to post a new fun, inexpensive goal for 2012 (early leader: survive the Mayan apocalypse).